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Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Taking stock of my UFO stack always inspires me schedule some longarm sessions to finish things up. This year has started off busy but when I heard Laurena's Longarm was closing I jumped to schedule some sessions before it was too late... since then it's been quilt, quilt, quilt:-)

I started with my Sloops quilt. I usually prefer hand guided pantographs or FMQ but in the interest of time I went with a computer driven pattern for this one. I love how perfectly the waves flow across the sailboats!!!

While I was babysitting the machine doing Sloops I was also able to load up my Blue Plate Special on another machine. I plan to use the same technique I used for my Ghastly Games to quilt the Dresden Plates on to the quilt sandwich but it's so big it was definitely easier to baste it on the longarm.

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

This weekend was the BostonMQG's annual retreat in Kennebunk Maine. It just doesn't get any better than a weekend away with this awesomely talented group of women. I always come home brimming with ideas and wishing I could spend a whole week.

My main goal was to finish piecing my Snake Trail top. I got off to a slow start but eventually worked out my issues and got my rows to go together.

I played around with layouts and diverged a bit from Denyse Schmidt's original design. By dinner time I had a flimsy together.

And since it's more fun to baste with friends I stayed up late to get this one ready to quilt. No surprise I didn't actually pack enough thread for quilting but it's ready to go.

With that accomplished I wasn't really up for tackling my next project but Alexis generously shared a Kaffe Fassett shot cotton charm pack. With no real plan in mind I just started making half and quarter square triangles. I love the way these fabrics work together... we'll see what this becomes, hopefully a mini for our upcoming Quilt Show.

Now it's back to reality but I've got a quiet week so I'm hoping to keep my quilt mojo going!

Friday, March 10, 2017

I was so excited when Heather Ross re-released Mendocino, one of my all time favorite fabric collections. I had some of the original collection that I'd been hoarding but it always felt too precious to actually use. With a new bundle in hand (thank you Hawthorne Threads!) and my Briar Rose addiction sated I pulled this assortment of prints and got cutting.

I started by fussy cutting the mermaids and then add rows of chevron "waves" above and below. There are lots of ways to make a chevron but I prefer the rectangle approach - Crazy Mom Quilts has a great tutorial which I just adjusted for the center squares.

In no time at all I had a flimsy together. I made the binding, pieced the back, basted it, bought more thread than I'd possibly need to quilt it... and then it just sat.

Finally I grabbed this for something to do at quilt camp. I'm not sure why I was so intimidated by the thought of quilting this, I finished it in one afternoon. With the binding already made it was super fast and easy to square it up, slap on the binding, and tack it down during the Super Bowl - with the overtime I even had time to finish;-)

Now that it's done I couldn't love it more!!! I wish I'd completely finished it while we were still at the beach so I could get pictures there but I'll have to settle for these... maybe I'll do some more this summer.

Friday, March 3, 2017

This project was inspired by the #QuiltconFromHome #dailychallenge: "Cut into your good stuff!"

I hate to play favorites when it comes to Lilly prints but Shrimp Cocktail is definitely at the top of the list. Audrey's dress was long outgrown and had some glitter glue stains but it still seemed sacrilegious to cut it up. With "permission" granted I started chopping. Yeah, we're that family - deal with it!

I wanted to take advantage of the pocket trim, luckily the pockets were perfectly sized for the face pieces. With those removed and trimmed I cut up the rest of the dress up and whipped up some blocks. These go together really quickly and with some sashing added I was ready to get quilting.

I kept the quilting simple with Bernina Stitch #4 waves. As easy as straight line quilting but so much fun.

I decided this would get more use as a pillow. I found the perfect pink gingham in my stash for the back and some lime Essex linen for the binding.

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Last week was school vacation week and while things didn't really go as planned it was nice to finally get some time in my studio. In anticipation of 2 basketball games and a road trip to Maine I did a bunch of La Passacaglia prep. I've been so stuck on fabric choices, especially for my last 2 large cogs, so it was nice to finally make some progress.

I also finally went back to my Snake Trail. It's definitely fiddly to try to line up where the arcs intersect (though I think that would also be true with pieced blocks). After working on this a while I decided this was a better retreat project so I finished cutting the squares and packed it up for this year's BostonMQG retreat.

Next up, pinning zippers. I'm so sad that Laurena's longarm is closing but I managed to schedule a few appointments to finish things up before the end.

After being so responsible I just wanted to sew. I've been thinking about this project for a long time but it was the #QuiltconFromHome #dailychallenge: "Cut into your good stuff!" that finally pushed me over the edge. I chopped up one of Audrey's outgrown Lilly Pulitzer dresses to make these Preppy the Whale blocks... so in love!!!